James William Coffin ’50 died on March 23, 2006, in Brunswick, Maine.

Born on January 21, 1925, in Brunswick, he prepared for college at Brunswick High School and during World War II served in the U.S. Navy submarine service from 1943 to 1946, attaining the rank of quartermaster third class. After the war, he entered Bowdoin in 1947 and graduated in 1949 as a member of the Class of 1950. He received a master of arts in teaching degree from Harvard University in 1951 and undertook further study at Boston University, working toward a doctoral degree. He taught at Ashland High School in New Hampshire in 1949-50 and then taught social studies and driver education at Franklin Academy in Malone, NY, for three years before joining the faculty at Lexington (MA) High School. There, he taught history and social studies until 1962, when he became a guidance counselor. He retired in 1981 and moved back to Maine. He was a lifelong lobsterman. Surviving are his wife, Barbara Hall Coffin, whom he married in 1946; two sons, William Coffin of Harpswell and James L. Coffin ’72 of Brunswick; a daughter, Carolyn Coffin of East Sandwich, MA; three brothers, Richard Coffin and Clarence Coffin, both of Brunswick, and Thomas Coffin of Harpswell; five grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.